The Sheik and the Runaway Princess

by Mallery, Susan

  “Actually it is,” she said breezily to the king. “I’ll give you all the details as I show you to your room. This way, Your Majesty.”

  Givon hesitated. He glanced at his son, then at Cala. Finally he nodded and moved next to Sabrina. “Please, call me Givon,” he told her as they walked toward the open doors of the palace.

  “I’m honored. I mean what with being a mere slave and all.”

  Givon looked at her. A smile played across his mouth. “I see that you have probably been more than Kardal bargained for, however you came to be in the City of Thieves.”

  Finding herself starting to like Kardal’s father, she linked her arm through his. “I believe you are right. At times I frustrate him immensely. Let me tell you all about it.”

  Kardal watched them leave. He hated that Sabrina had been so easily blinded by his father’s practiced charm. He would have expected more of her.

  “What do you think?” Cala asked. Her voice quivered slightly as she spoke.

  “I do not know what to think. It is always stressful to have a visiting dignitary in the city. The security concerns, the disruption of the routine.”

  Cala faced him, her eyes stormy. “Don’t play that game with me, Kardal. I’m your mother. I’m not asking about the inconvenience of the visit, I’m asking what you think of your father. You’ve never seen him in person before, have you?”

  Of course he’d known what she was asking but he hadn’t wanted to answer the question. “No, I’ve never seen him before.”

  At joint conferences, he’d always managed to avoid King Givon and the man had never sought him out. When there was direct conversation between the city and El Bahar, representatives had been sent.

  “So, what are you thinking?” she persisted.

  “I don’t know.”

  In that he told the truth. Givon was not the devil, nor even a bad man. Kardal felt confused and angry and hurt. He couldn’t explain why he felt such emotions, nor did he know how to make them go away.

  “I’m sorry,” his mother said, touching his arm. “I shouldn’t have kept you apart all these years.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  She met his gaze. “Yes, it was. You don’t want me to have any blame in the matter, yet so much of it is mine. I was young and foolish. When Givon returned to his family, I was destroyed. I ordered him out of my life, which was my right, but I also ordered him out of yours, which was wrong.”

  Kardal shrugged off her concerns. “He had a wife and sons of his own. He would not have been interested in me.”

  “I think he would have been. While it would have been difficult for him to openly acknowledge you, there could have been private meetings. You needed a father.”

  He didn’t like that her words made him ache for what he’d never had. “My grandfather was the best man I have ever known. He was more than enough.”

  “I’m glad you think so and I hope it’s true because I can’t change the past. I can only tell you that I’m so sorry.”

  He pulled his mother to him and kissed the top of her head. “You have no need to apologize. What is done is done. The past is behind us.”

  “I don’t think it is.”

  He straightened and looked at her. Color stained her cheeks and she wouldn’t raise her gaze past his chest.

  “What are you saying?” he asked.

  She swallowed. “I’m afraid my worst fear has come true. Despite the time that has passed and different people we have become, I’m still very much in love with him.”

  Sabrina opened the door to the guest quarters she had prepared for the king. As Givon followed her, she gave the room a once-over, taking in the elegant sitting area with its view of the desert from all three large windows. A tile mosaic showed marauders thundering across the desert, arms held high, swords at the ready.

  There were several sofas and occasional tables. Small pedestals had been set up around the room, each displaying a different treasure. She had chosen them herself.

  Givon stepped into the center of the room. He glanced around, saw a small golden statue of a horse and crossed to the display. After picking up the animal, he turned it over, then looked at Sabrina.

  “Are these to honor me or mock me?” he asked.

  “I had wondered if you would recognize some of your country’s history.”

  “I have a full-size version of this in bronze in my garden.”

  “Ah, that would make it easier then.”

  She cleared her throat. What had seemed like a good idea at the time suddenly didn’t. Would King Givon be angry with her choices?

  “I didn’t intend to mock you…exactly.”

  Kind eyes crinkled as he smiled. “What was your intent?”

  “Perhaps I simply wanted to get your attention.”

  “Something my son has wanted to do all his life?” he asked, then returned the horse to the pedestal.

  Sabrina took a step toward him. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “I didn’t mean to make this situation any more difficult than it needed to be.”

  He crossed to the window and stared out at the desert. “I’ve always thought the city a most beautiful place,” he said conversationally. “How much of the story do you know?”

  “Some of it. Cala told me what happened but only you and she know the details. I doubt anyone knows the entire truth.”

  “I suspect you are correct.”

  He nodded. There was much gray in his hair and lines by his eyes, but he didn’t appear to be an old man. There was still an air of vitality about him. Did Cala find the king attractive? Sabrina thought she might.

  He turned away from the window and walked to the far end of the room where an ancient tapestry showed several women being gifted to the king of El Bahar.

  “That was a long time ago,” he said.

  For a second Sabrina thought he meant the tapestry. “Yes, it was.”

  He kept his attention on the tiny stitches. “Choices had to be made. Difficult choices. Ones that no man should have to make. Is he very angry with me?”

  She ached for his pain. “You’ll need to discuss that with him,” she murmured.

  “I shall.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “But your lack of answer gives me the information I need. Kardal is very angry. I can’t blame him. From his perspective, I abandoned him. He was never acknowledged. I had no place in his life. There were reasons, but do they matter?”

  “No,” she said before she could stop herself. “Children don’t care about reasons. They only know the results of actions. When a parent isn’t there, or makes it clear the child isn’t important, then the child is hurt and feels betrayed.”

  He walked toward her, studying her. Sabrina kept her chin high and her shoulders square, but her manifestation of pride didn’t erase the fact that Givon knew her life story. He would know that she wasn’t just speaking about Kardal.

  When he was standing in front of her, he took one of her hands. “I was a fool. Partly because I was hurt when Cala demanded that I never contact her or her child again, and partly because it was easier. I could suffer silently when I was alone, and no one else had to know. If I had acknowledged Kardal, questions would have been asked. Questions that I did not want to answer.”

  He squeezed her fingers, then released them. “Expediency is never the answer. I should never have promised Cala. Or having promised, I should have broken my word. Kardal was more important than both of us.”

  Sabrina followed him to the sofa and settled next to him. “King Givon, it’s not too late. Seeing the truth is the first step in making it right.”

  “This can never be right.”

  “Perhaps, but it can be better than it is now.” She leaned toward him. “Why did you come if not to make peace with the past?”

  He was silent for a long time. “I came because I could no longer stay away. The pain of being without was too great. I wanted to know if there was a second chance.” He shrugged slightly. “Perhaps with both of
them.”

  “Cala, too?”

  Was it possible that after all this time they would rekindle their romance? Sabrina felt pleased at the thought.

  King Givon smiled. “You think I am too old?”

  “No. I think things are going to be very interesting around here.”

  “Kardal will not approve.”

  “Perhaps not at first,” she admitted. “But I don’t think it’s going to be his decision. His mother can be just as determined.”

  “Tell me about Kardal. What is he like?”

  She drew in a breath. “Obviously the best thing would be for you to get to know him yourself. But until that happens, I can tell you that he is a wonderful man. You’ll be proud of him.”

  Givon shook his head. “I have no right to pride. I had no part in forming the man he has become. Is he a good leader? Do his people respect him?”

  “Yes to both. He does not shy away from difficult decisions. He is strong, yet fair. You know about the joint air force with Bahania?”

  “Yes. El Bahar will be a part of that as well. We will contribute financially as well as having airfields out in the desert.” He touched her slave bracelets. “I suspect you and Kardal met under most unusual circumstances.”

  She laughed, then told him about getting stranded in the desert. “He brought me here, so I have found the City of Thieves after all.”

  “You have not known him very long, yet you seem to understand him.”

  “I try. In some ways we make each other crazy, but in other ways we get along perfectly.”

  King Givon’s expression turned knowing. Sabrina shifted uncomfortably. “It’s not what you think,” she said, refusing to remember the kisses they had shared. “We’re friends. There’s not all that much royalty running around so we understand each other.”

  “Does he know what he has in you? Does he know what is in your heart?”

  Heat flared on her cheeks, but she refused to be embarrassed. “I assure you, there’s nothing to know.”

  “Ah. So you have not yet admitted the truth even to yourself.”

  “There’s nothing to admit.”

  And even if there was, she thought to herself, and there wasn’t, it all meant nothing. Because no matter what she might dream about, reality was very different. Her destiny lay elsewhere, and not here with the Prince of Thieves.

  Sabrina did not return to her own quarters after leaving King Givon in his. She had too much to think about. Too much to consider.

  The king had been wrong, she told herself for the hundredth time. He’d been wrong about her having feelings for Kardal. She couldn’t think of him as anything but a friend because that’s all he was to her. A good friend. Someone with whom she had a lot in common. Someone…

  She hadn’t realized where she’d been walking to until she found herself in the anteroom overlooking the formal garden. Spring was rapidly approaching summer and already the gardeners had hung wide awnings to protect the delicate plants from the strong desert sun.

  Sabrina moved to the window and pressed her fingers against the three-hundred-year-old glass. It was less smooth than what one could buy today, and thicker. But it had a beauty no factory could produce. She thought of the treasures in the vaults and the magnificence of the castle. There was so much to see and understand here in the city. She could happily make it her life’s work.

  And in a few short weeks, she would never see it again. She knew her time here was limited. She felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, watching the time of her life flow like the sands in an hourglass. How long before her father insisted she return home? How long until she had to pledge herself to the troll prince? How many more days in the City of Thieves?

  She ran her finger along the ledge, where lead held the glass in place. A sharp point caught the skin of her thumb, piercing her. She winced and pulled back. Instantly a single drop of blood formed in the shape of a teardrop. As if her body wept.

  But not for the city, she thought as she finally accepted the truth. While it intrigued her and excited her imagination, she would not miss the castle nor the streets nor even the treasure when she left. She would miss the man who was the heart of the city. The man who had stolen her heart.

  She’d fallen in love with the Prince of Thieves.

  Sabrina rubbed at the drop of blood, as if by erasing it from her body, she could erase the truth. Except the truth could no longer be denied. She was in love with a man she would never see again. Even if she went to her father and confessed her feelings, she knew he wouldn’t care. He had married for the sake of his country twice and he would expect no less of her. Perhaps if he cared about her, she might have a chance, but he did not. He had made his feelings abundantly clear.

  Kardal, she thought suddenly. She could go to Kardal and tell him. Perhaps he had come to care for her as well. They could run off together and…

  And what? Where would they go? Even if he would leave the city for her, she could never ask that of him. He was as much a part of this place as the castle itself, or the sand of the desert.

  So he would stay where he belonged and she would return to Bahania to marry someone else…a man who could never hold her heart because she had already given it away.

  Chapter 13

  “The security area is through here,” Kardal said the next afternoon, trying to sound more gracious than he felt.

  After more than twenty-four hours of ducking his father and when that wasn’t possible, making sure they weren’t ever alone so they would have to speak directly to each other, he was finally trapped with Givon.

  After lunch, both his mother and Sabrina had claimed appointments that could not be broken. Even Rafe had deserted him, stating he had an important staff meeting to attend. Givon had been left to Kardal, and Kardal didn’t doubt for a second that there was a conspiracy afoot.

  However, there was no time to round up those involved and complain. Instead he had to show his father the security section of the castle.

  “We have taken advantage of improved technology,” Kardal said as they stepped through wide glass doors that opened silently, admitting them into an alcove. When the doors closed behind them, they did so with an audible snick of an activated lock.

  “As you can see,” he said, indicating the glass room, “we are trapped. The glass is bulletproof and explosion resistant. Should we try to make our way into the security area without proper clearance, forces on duty will respond within thirty seconds. To prevent us from trying something aggressive in that short period of time, a nontoxic sedative will be dispensed into the atmosphere.” He pointed to small spray nozzles extending down from the ceiling.

  Givon looked around at the glass enclosure. “Most impressive,” he murmured. He glanced at Kardal. “Do you plan to sedate me?”

  Kardal ignored the humor in the other man’s voice along with the question. “The doors are released by a combination of thumbprint and retinal scan.”

  He touched the security pad and stared into the scanner. Seconds later the inner doors opened and they stepped into the heart of the operation.

  Television screens lined one entire wall of the huge room. Remote cameras sent back views of every oil pump in both El Bahar and Bahania, except those within twenty miles of the main cities.

  “All the information gathered is collected here,” Kardal said, walking over to a row of monitors opposite the television screens. “We regulate oil flow, check for any potential safety problems with the equipment and notify the nearest crew if something breaks. Over here—” he led the way to a different cluster of monitor screens “—we use infrared to find trespassers. And of course the remote cameras provide us with the majority of our information.”

  Givon crossed to those screens and watched a group of nomads seen on one television. They rode camels and appeared not to notice the large oil pump behind them.

  “Internal security?” he asked.

  Kardal nodded. “They patrol the desert regularly. We also have heli
copter patrols, but it’s not enough. The area is too large and those who wish to make trouble are growing more sophisticated. The technology which aids us, assists them as well.”

  Givon circled the room, pausing to speak with several technicians. Kardal stayed still, watching his father, wishing the visit would end quickly. He didn’t like being uncomfortable, but that was how he felt around King Givon. If they weren’t discussing matters of mutual political and economic interest, he didn’t know what to say.

  His father was not as he had expected. Kardal hadn’t realized he even had expectations until they were not met. He’d thought Givon would be more arrogant and brusque. Instead he found the king to be a thoughtful man who didn’t pontificate or insist his opinion be the only one.

  He wore western-style dress rather than traditional robes. He could have been a visiting executive rather than a reigning monarch.

  Givon returned to his side and smiled. “You are doing an extraordinary job. Your unique blending of traditional methods with new technology has given your security an edge.”

  Kardal led them out of the security monitoring station and into one of the conference rooms. Unlike the ones by the old throne room, this space was completely modern and impersonal.

  “The City of Thieves receives a percentage of the oil profits from both your country and Bahania. In return we provide security for the oil fields. It is to our advantage that there is no trouble, or any delays in production.”

  Givon took a seat on the far side of the table. “I agree, but there are degrees of excellence. You aim for the top.”

  Kardal settled in the chair opposite his father. Was that pride in Givon’s voice? Kardal felt both pleased and annoyed.

  “You have a natural affinity for leadership,” Givon continued.

  “I suppose you want to take credit for that,” Kardal growled before he could stop himself.

  “Your grandfather raised you and you are now your own man. I think any praise should be shared equally between you and him.” Givon paused, then pressed his hands on the table. “Whatever you might have inherited from me could have easily come to nothing. So no, I do not believe I am entitled to take credit for your success. I will admit to feeling some sense of pride, however misplaced. That is a father’s right. Even a father who has done as badly as me.”